Hispanic Economic Outlook Spring2017

TheReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

LetterfromthePresident–LuisaBlancoPage1

ADecadeofHispanicEmploymentOutcomes:2006-2011–MarieT.MoraandAlbertoDávilaPage3

TheAffordableCareAct,EmployedMexicanAmericans,andPrivateHealthInsuranceCoverage2012-2015–DavidvanderGoesandRichardSantosPage6

WithACAandwithoutACA:WhatisnextforChildrenofLatinoImmigrants’useofHealthcareandHealthoutcomes?–MonicaGarcia-PerezPage8

AccesstoFinancialServicesandtheWellbeingofMiddleAgedandOlderHispanicsintheUnitedStates–LuisaBlancoPage12

AbouttheHEOCommittee–Page10

TheAmericanSocietyofHispanicEconomists(ASHE)—amemberoftheAlliedSocialScienceAssociation—isaprofessionalassociationofeconomistsandothersocialscientistswhoareconcernedwiththeunder-representationofHispanicAmericansintheeconomicsprofessionandwiththelackofresearchgeneratedonHispanicAmericaneconomicandpolicyissues.Ourprimarygoalsinclude:1.PromotingthevitalityofHispanicsintheeconomicsprofessionthrougheducation,service,andexcellence;2.PromotingrigorousresearchoneconomicandpolicyissuesaffectingUSHispaniccommunitiesandthenationas

awhole;and3.EngagingmoreHispanicAmericanstoeffectivelyparticipateintheeconomicsprofession.FormoreinformationaboutASHE,pleasecontactourcurrentpresidentLuisaBlancoatlblanco@pepperdine.edu.Alberto.Davila@utrgv.eduorvisitourwebsiteatwww.asheweb.net.

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

1

LetterfromthePresident

LuisaBlanco*

Aswewelcome2017,wehaveanexcitingyearaheadasweworktogethertowardsASHEgoalstopromotethevitalityofHispanicsintheeconomicprofession,conductrigorousresearchonissuesaffectingHispanicsandengagingmoreHispanics toparticipate in theeconomicprofession.ASHEhasbeen fortunate tohaveindividuals like you to work hard towards accomplishing these goals in the past years. I invite you tocontinueparticipatingactivelywithASHE,andifyouwanttobecomemoreinvolvedtopleaseletusknow.ItisthroughyourinvolvementthatASHEwillcontinuetogrow,andwehaveseveralprojectsunderwaythatwillbenefitsignificantlyfromgettingmoreofourconstituentsactivelyinvolvedwithASHE.Iwould like to invite you to visit our brand newwebpage (http://asheweb.net/).Many have contributedsignificantlytothedevelopmentofthenewASHEwebsite,butspecialthanksshouldgotoBelindaRoman,DerekMoy,andJoeGuzman(ASHEPastPresident).IalsowouldliketowelcomenewASHEPresidentElectSusanPozofromWesternMichiganUniversity.AnimportantprojectforthecomingyearwillbetodesigntheASHEhandbook.Thehandbookwilldocumentthe important information of the logistics and functioning of ASHE.Wewill also explore in this year anyneededrevisionstoASHEbylaws.Yourparticipationismostwelcomed.IinviteyoutoattendtheASHEsponsoredsessionsattheASSAmeetingsandtheASHEbusinessmeetinginChicago(informationprovidedbelow).WealsoplantohaveASHEsponsoredsessionsatWEAIandSEA in2017.Thisyear theWEAImeetingwill takeplace inSanDiego,California in June25-29.Please sendyourabstractswithauthors’information(name,institution,email)byJanuary27thtolblanco@pepperdine.edu.If you are willing to serve as a discussant or chair (in addition to presenting a paper, or just be adiscussant/chairatoursessions ifyoualreadysentanabstract for thegeneralcall forpapers)pleasealsonotethatinyouremail.Therearenospecifictopicsastopicswillarisebasedonsubmissions,andacallforproposalswillalsobesentastheconferencesapproach.ThecurrentHEOissueprovidesshortnotesrelatedtothreeimportantissuesthatpertaintothewellbeingofHispanics: labor market conditions, health care coverage and access to financial services. This year, wewould like to have a second issue of the HEO report. We would like to invite you to submit an article(contactanymemberoftheboardifyouareinterested).Asyouwillseebelow,ourarticlesareshortandasummaryofyourongoingprojectsorpapers.ItisaniceopportunitytolettheASHEcommunityknowwhatyou areworking on. Finally, if youwould like to be part of ASHE committees andworking groups pleasecontactmeatlblanco@pepperdine.edu.Ilookforwardworkingwithyouinthiscomingyear.Regards,LuisaR.BlancoASHEPresident

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

2

ASHESponsoredSessionsattheASSAMeetings(January2017)*CSMGEP,ASHE,andNEACocktailReceptionEvent-Friday,Jan.6,2017;6:00PM–8:00PMHyattRegencyChicago,TorontoASHEBusinessMeetingEvent-Saturday,Jan.7,2017;5:00PM–6:30PMHyattRegencyChicago,NewOrleansHostedBy:AmericanSocietyofHispanicEconomistsHispanicHouseholdEconomicDecisions(jointsessionwithNEA)PaperSession-Friday,Jan.6,2017;10:15AM–12:15PMHyattRegencyChicago,AtlantaChair:JosephGuzman,MichiganStateUniversityDiscussants:AndresVargas,PurdueUniversity;PiaOrrenius,FederalReserveBankofDallas;AlfonsoFlores-Lagunes,SyracuseUniversity;WilliamA.Darity,Jr.,DukeUniversity

• DeterminantsofPrivateHealthInsuranceCoverageAmongMexican-AmericanWomen,2010-2014;byRichardSantos,UniversityofNewMexico,DavidvanderGoes,UniversityofNewMexico

• UnderstandingtheRacial/EthnicGapinBankAccountOwnershipAmongOlderAdults;byLuisaBlanco,PepperdineUniversity,EmmaAguila,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia,MarcoAngrisani,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia

• HowChildrenWithDisabilitiesAffectHouseholdInvestmentDecisions;byVickiBogan,CornellUniversity,JoseM.Fernandez,UniversityofLouisville

• ConsumptionSmoothingandFrequencyofBenefitPaymentsofCashTransferPrograms;byEmmaAguila,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia,ArieKapteyn,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia,FranciscoPerez-Arce,RANDCorporation

Stratification:ImpactofRace,GenderandEthnicityonLabor,MigrationandCrime(jointsessionwithNEA)PaperSession-Saturday,Jan.7,2017;2:30PM–4:30PMHyattRegencyChicago,WrightChair:MieshaJ.Williams,MorehouseCollegeDiscussants:ConradMiller,UniversityofCalifornia-Berkeley,NginaSayiniChiteji,NewYorkUniversity,WilliamA.Darity,Jr.,DukeUniversity,JoseG.Caraballo,UniversityofPuertoRico-Cayey

• AcculturationandtheLaborMarketinMexico;byJavierCano-Urbina,FloridaStateUniversity,PatrickMason,FloridaStateUniversity

• HowDoesCrimeAffectMigration?EvidenceoftheRecentMexicanCrimeWave,byLuisaBlanco,PepperdineUniversity,IsabelRuiz,HarrisManchesterCollegeandUniversityofOxford,CarlosVargas-Silva,UniversityofOxford

• DoesaRisingTideLiftAllBoats?OccupationalSegregationofBlackMenandWomenOvertheBusinessCycle;byCharlesL.Betsey,HowardUniversity

• GenderInequality:TheIntersectionalityofRace,EthnicityandGenderbyWifagAdnan,ZayedUniversity

*AllASSAsessionsopentoeveryone,pleasecome,especiallytoASHEreceptionandbusinessmeeting

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

3

ADecadeofHispanicEmploymentOutcomes:2006-2016

MarieT.MoraandAlbertoDávila*In2016,HispanicunemploymentratesfelltotheirlowestlevelsbeforetheGreatRecessionstarted(5.6%inthefirstquarter,and5.8%inthesecondandthirdquarters).1Thedeclinecontinuedageneralpattern,asseeninFigure1.Afterreachingitshighduringthepastdecadeof12.8%inthefirstquarterof2010,Hispanicunemployment rates generally fell and then stabilized between the third quarter of 2014 and the fourthquarterof2015.Still,despite thisdecline,Hispanicunemployment in2016hadyet to return to the ratesobservedin2006.

ComparedtonationalaverageandAfricanAmerican unemployment rates, theevidence is mixed. While theunemployment rate of Hispanics is lowerthanthatofBlacksinrecenttimes,itisstillabove that of the overall unemploymentrate. That said, the Hispanicunemployment rate has shown a slightrelative improvement to the overall rate,which narrowed their gap with thenational average. The Blackunemploymentratealsodeclinedfromitspeakof16.5percentinthefirstquarterof2010, and has fallen steadily since then,reaching its lowest rate in the thirdquarterof2016(8.3%)innearlyadecade.

Clearly,theseobservationsmustbetemperedbythecorrespondingtrendsinthelaborforceparticipationrates(LFPR)ofthesegroups,toaccountforpotentialaddedanddiscouragedworkereffects.Inparticular,asFigure 2 shows, the LFPR of Hispanics had generally been falling since theGreat Recession up untilmid-2012; since then, they have been relatively stable, hovering around the 66 percent mark. These LFPRsremainapproximatelythree-percentagepointsbelowitspeakduringthedecadeof69.1percentinthefirstquarterof2007.ThedeclineintheLFPRismoredramaticwhenthepopulationatlargeisconsidered,asFigure2shows.Inthislight,Hispanicshavenotcomparativelyhadthedeclinesofthatofthenationalaverage.At62.9%inthethird quarter of 2006, the national averagewas 3.4 percentagepoints below its peak in the past decade

*MarieT.MoraisProfessorofEconomicsatTheUniversityofTexasRioGrandeValley,andapastPresidentofASHE;AlbertoDavilaisProfessorofEconomicsatTheUniversityofTexasRioGrandeValley,andImmediatePastPresidentofASHE.1 The labor force statistics discussed here were downloaded from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website (www.bls.gov) duringDecember2016.Unlessotherwisenoted,thesestatisticsareseasonallyadjusted.BecausetheBLStreatsethnicityseparatelyfromrace,Hispanicscanbeofanyrace,andthestatisticsforBlacksdonotexcludeBlackHispanics.

Blacks

Hispanics

National Average

Great Recession36

912

1518

Une

mpl

oym

ent R

ate

2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016Year

Source: Authors' use of seasonally-adjusted BLS data. See Footnote 1 for details.

QI 2006 - QIII 2016Figure 1: U.S. Quarterly Unemployment Rates

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

4

(66.3% in the fourth quarter of 2006 and first quarter of 2007). The relatively sharp declines among thenationalLFPRsmeantthatitsgapwithHispanicswidenedduringthistime,particularlysince2012.ComparedtoBlacks(whohavethelowestLFPRs of the three groups shown),Hispanics have not fared as well withrespect to the LFPR declines since 2006.In the third quarter of 2016, the BlackLFPR of 61.7%was 2.6 percentage pointsbelowitshighduringthedecadeof64.3%inthefourthquarterof2006.Regardless, while all the groups inquestion experienced a decline inunemployment rates in recent times,thesedeclinesoccurredwhenLFPRswerealso falling. This signals the presence ofdiscouraged worker effects in explainingpartof therecently fallingunemploymentrates.Thispointisfurtheremphasizedwhenconsideringtheemployment/populationratios(EPRs)ofthesegroupsoverthelast10years.AsseeninFigure3,theEPRsfellsharplyforthethreegroups,especiallyHispanicsandBlacks,duringtheGreatRecession;thishasbeendiscussedinpreviousreportsinthisOutlook.Throughoutmost of the 2000s, Hispanics had higher EP ratios than the national average, but the relatively acutedeteriorationintheiremploymentratesduringandshortlyaftertherecessionnarrowedthisgap,essentiallyreachingparityduring,andshortlyafter,therecession.

They continued falling after the recessionended, reaching their lows of 58.4%among Hispanics in the fourth quarter of2010, and 51.2% among Blacks in thesecond quarter of 2011. They havegenerally been recovering since then,reaching their highest rates in 2016 sincethe recession (62.5% among Hispanics inthe firstquarter,and56.6%amongBlacksin the third quarter). Still, they remainwellbelowtheirpre-recessionhighsofthepast decade (65.5% and 59.0%,respectively, both in the first quarter of2007). These patterns support the viewthat the 2016 labor market has yet toachievethestrength ithadsome10years

ago.

Great Recession

Blacks

National Average

Hispanics

5055

6065

Empl

oym

ent /

Pop

ulat

ion

Rat

io

2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016Year

Source: Authors' use of seasonally-adjusted BLS data. See Footnote 1 for details.

QI 2006 - QIII 2016Figure 3: U.S. Quarterly Employment/Population Ratios

Hispanics

National Average

BlacksGreat Recession60

6264

6668

70

Labo

r For

ce P

artic

ipat

ion

Rat

e (%

)

2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016Year

Source: Authors' use of seasonally-adjusted BLS data. See Footnote 1 for details.

QI 2006 - QIII 2016Figure 2: U.S. Quarterly Labor Force Participation Rates

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

5

Anotheraspectof labormarketstrength(orweakness)canbegaugedbyself-employmentrates.Between2006and2015(themostrecentyearforwhichwehavedataavailable),2asFigure4indicates,Hispanicself-employment rates tended to rise during thenine-year period; at 8.3% in 2015, this ratewas significantlyhigherthanthe8.1%self-employmentratein2006.ThegeneralincreaseoccurreddespitearelativelysharpdeclineattheendoftheGreatRecession(atwhichtime,Hispanicself-employmentratesfellfrom8.3%to7.9%between2009and2011).Insomeofourpreviouswork(DávilaandMora2013),weobservedarisingself-employmenttendencyamongHispanicsinthefirstdecadeofthe2000s;itappearsthiswastemporarilyhaltedaftertheGreatRecession,buthassincebeenrestored.Wealsofoundthatmuchofthisincreaseinself-employment propensities was driven by Mexican immigrants (particularly women). The decliningpresence of immigrants among the Hispanic population in recent years (e.g., López and Patten 2015), inconjunction with the slow labor market recovery after the Great Recession, may explain the temporarydeclineinHispanicself-employment.

Despite this temporary decline, Hispanic self-employment continues to go against nationaltrends. For much of this time period, self-employment rates fell among workers ingeneral(fallingfromahighof10.2%in2006toalowof9.4%in2013),andremainedrelativelyflatamongBlacks,hoveringaroundfivepercentformuchofthisperiod.On a cautionary note, our previous findingsfurther indicated that much of the Hispanicentrepreneurial growth occurred inmicroenterprises, suggesting that this type ofemployment resulted more from self-employment “push” rather than “pull” factors.

Additionalin-depthempiricalanalyseswillbenecessarytodetermineifthiscontinuestobethecase.ReferencesDávila,Alberto,andMarieT.Mora.2013.HispanicEntrepreneursinthe2000s:AnEconomicProfileandPolicy

Implications.Stanford,CA:StanfordUniversityPress.López,Gustavo,andEileenPatten.2015.TheImpactofSlowingImmigration:Foreign-BornShareFallsAmong14

LargestU.S.HispanicOriginGroups.Washington,DC:PewResearchCenter,HispanicTrendsProject.http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/15/the-impact-of-slowing-immigration-foreign-born-share-falls-among-14-largest-us-hispanic-origin-groups/.

Ruggles,Steven,J.TrentAlexander,KatieGenadek,RonaldGoeken,MatthewB.Schroeder,andMatthewSobek.2016.IntegratedPublicUseMicrodataSeries:Version5.0[Machine-readabledatabase].Minneapolis:UniversityofMinnesota.www.ipums.org.

2 Our analysis of self-employment rates is based on 2006-2015 data from the pubic-use microdata samples of the AmericanCommunitySurvey(ACS),madeavailablebyStevenRugglesandhiscolleagues(2016)intheIntegratedPublicUseMicrodataSeries(IPUMS).Wefocusonciviliansages16andabovewhowereinthelaborforce.OurresultsdonotincludetheCommonwealthofPuertoRico.

National Average

Hispanics

Blacks

56

78

910

Self-

Empl

oym

ent R

ate

2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016Year

Source: Authors' use of ACS data in the IPUMS. See Footnote 3.

2006 - 2015Figure 4: U.S. Self-Employment Rates

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

6

TheAffordableCareAct,EmployedMexicanAmericans,andPrivateHealthInsuranceCoverage

DavidvanderGoesandRichardSantos*

IntheUnitedStates,thelackofhealthinsurancecoverageamongHispanicsisstriking;about27percentoftheHispanicsage19-64werenotcoveredin2015byeitherprivateorpublicinsuranceascomparedto17percentofblacksand11percentofwhites(Barnett&Vornovitsky,2016).MexicanAmericansarethelargestgroup in theHispanicpopulationandaccount forabout2 inevery3Hispanics residing in theU.S (López,2015).MexicanAmericanshavethemostunfavorablehealthinsurancecoverageofanypopulationgroupinthe nation; one in every 3 Mexican Americans age 64 years and under did not have health insurancecoverage in2012 (Centers forDiseaseControlandPrevention,2012).Nearlya fourthof thenation’s46.7millionuninsuredpopulationin2013wereMexicanAmericans(López,2015).Usinganationalsampleofemployedadultsage18-64fromthe2012-2015NationalHealthInterviewSurvey(NHIS),3 we estimate that 48 percent of Mexican American men and 55 percent of Mexican Americanwomenhaveprivatehealthinsuranceincomparisontoabout80percentofNon-Hispanicworkers.MexicanAmericanmenin2014hadcomparableemployment/populationratiosandMexicanAmericanwomenlesssorelativetowhiteworkers(Bucknor,2016).Onceemployed,MexicanAmericansareoneoftheleastlikelygroupofworkerstobecoveredbyprivatehealthinsurance.Ourcurrentresearchseekstoidentifythemajordeterminantsthatcontributetothegapintherateofprivatehealthinsurancecoverage(insuranceobtainedthrough theworkplaceor individual purchased insurance) amongemployedMexicanAmericansmenandwomenascomparedtoothernon-Hispanicworkers4beforeandaftertheimplementationofkeyprovisionsoftheAffordableCareAct(ACA) in2010.WeconcentrateexclusivelyontheimpactoftheACAonprivatehealthinsurancebecauseemployershavehistoricallybeenthemajorsourceofhealthinsuranceforworkersandtheirfamilies(Barnett&Vornovitsky,2016).Furthermore,theemployermandateprovisionoftheACAunderscores the important roleof theprivatesector inprovidinghealth insurancecoverage tomillionsofAmericans.TheIntegratedHealthInterviewSurvey(IHIS)versionoftheNationalHealthInterviewSurveys(HIS) isthedata source for our research (Minnesota Population Center State Health Access Data Assistance Center,2016).Tostudy thedeterminantsofprivatehealth insurance forMexicanAmericans,weuseanon-linearBlinder-Oaxacadecompositionto illustratethecontributing factors tothecoveragegap.Additionally,sub-groupdecompositionscareperformedtoinvestigatechangesindisparitiesbeforeandafterimplementationofmajorprovisionsoftheAffordableCareAct.ForMexicanAmericanmen,theresultsofthedecompositionanalysisshowedthatfamilyincomerelativetothe Federal Poverty Level (FPL), education, language, andbeing foreignborn are themajor determinantsthatexplainnearly90percentofthePHIgapbetweenMexicanAmericansandothernon-Hispanics.Theseidentical determinants (except for being foreign born) explained 80 percent of the PHI disparity gap ofMexicanAmericanwomen.IncomerelativetotheFPListhedominantcontributingexplanatoryvariabletothedisparitygapinprivatehealthinsuranceforMexicanAmericans,irrespectiveofgender.Theresultsshow3WeusetheIPUMSIntegratedHealthInterviewSeries(IHIS)versionoftheNHIS.4OurtwogroupsareworkingMexicanAmericans18to64andworkingnon-Hispanicsage18to64.

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

7

thatnearlyalloftheprivatehealthinsurancecoveragegapamongemployedMexicanAmericanwomenandothernon-Hispanicworkersisattributabletodifferencesinincomeandotherhumancapitalcharacteristicssuchaseducationandlanguage.

Figure1:PHIRatesforEmployedMenandWomen

These findings suggest that the current provisions of theACAmay be insufficient to increase the privatehealthinsurancecoverageofMexicanAmericanintheworkplace,giventheirdisadvantagedsocioeconomicstatus. Focusing on the Southern and Western regions of the United States (more than 85 percent ofMexicanAmericansliveinthesetworegions),wecalculatethatafterACAimplementationtheprivatehealthinsurance rate forworkingMexicanAmericans rosemodestly – Figure 1.AmongMexicanAmericans, theprivatehealthinsurancecoverageroseby5percentagepointsformenand7percentagepointsforwomen,while the coverage rate of working non-Mexicans increased by about 2 percentage points; the PHI gapdecreasedbutthedecompositionresultsareessentially identicalbeforeandaftertheMedicaidexpansionundertheACA.DespitetheincreaseinprivatehealthinsurancecoverageforMexicanAmericans,itwasstillonly51and57percentformenandwomenrespectively–inboththeSouthandWestregions.OurresultssupporttheexistenceofaceilingforMexicanAmerican’sprivatehealthinsurancecoveragerateundertheACA.We conclude that theACA is incapableof closing theprivatehealth insurance coverage gap amongworkerswithlowersocioeconomicstatusandeducationalattainment.Thenextstepsinthisresearcharetoexplorehowthegapwillchangeasnewerdata,inapost-ACApoliticalenvironment,becomeavailable.ReferencesBarnett,J.C.,andVornovitsky,M.S.(2016).HealthInsuranceCoverageintheUnitedStates:2015.WashingtonD.C.:

U.S.CensusBureauBlinder,A.S.(1973).Wagediscrimination:reducedformandstructuralestimates.JournalofHumanResources,436–

455.Bucknor,C.(2016).HispanicWorkersintheUnitedStates.WashingtonD.C.:CenterforEconomicsandPolicyResearch.CentersforDiseaseControlandPrevention.(2012).HealthofMexicanAmericanPopulation.RetrievedJanuary1,2015,

fromhttp://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/mexican-health.htm

80% 83%77% 79%

47% 52%43%

50%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

WestBeforeACA

WestAterACA

SouthBeforeACA

SouthAterACA

PHIRatesforEmployedMen

Non-HispanicMenPHIRate

MexicanAmericanMenPHIRate

80% 82%77% 79%

53% 57%50%

57%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

WestBeforeACA

WestAterACA

SouthBeforeACA

SouthAterACA

PHIRatesforEmployedWomen

Non-HispanicWomenPHIRate

MexicanAmericanWomenPHIRate

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

8

López,G.(2015).HispanicsofMexicanOriginintheUnitedStates,2013.WashingtonD.C.:PewResearchCenter.MinnesotaPopulationCenterStateHealthAccessDataAssistanceCenter. (2016). IntegratedHealth InterviewSeries:

Version6.21.Minneapolis:UniversityofMinnesotaOaxaca,R. (1973).Male-femalewagedifferentials inurban labormarkets. International EconomicReview,693–709.

JOUR

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

9

WithACAandwithoutACA:WhatisnextforChildrenofLatinoImmigrants’useofHealthcareandHealthOutcomes

MonicaGarcia-Perez*

IntheUnitedStates,thelackofhealthinsurancecoverageamongHispanicsisstriking;about23percentoftheHispanicsage19-64werenotcoveredin2015byeitherprivateorpublicinsuranceascomparedto17percent of blacks and 11 percent of whites (Barnett & Vornovitsky, 2016 ). Mexican Americans are thelargest group in theHispanic population andaccount for about 2 in every 3Hispanics residing in theU.S(López,2015).MexicanAmericanshavethemostunfavorablehealthinsurancecoverageofanypopulationgroup in the nation; one in every 3 Mexican Americans age 64 years and under did not have healthinsurancecoveragein2012(CentersforDiseaseControlandPrevention,2012).NearlyafourthofthechildrenofimmigrantstendtovisitthedoctorlessfrequentlythanthechildrenofUSnatives.This,asa standalonestatementmaysoundpositive.However,whenwecombine itwith the factthatthelowfrequencyisduetohavingnotvisitedthedoctoratleastonceinayear,weunderstandthatthelowusageofcarecouldbemostlikelyduetolackofaccesstocarethantoapositivereasonsuchasgoodhealth. As expected, children outcomes are generally influenced by their family income, structure, workschedule,health insurancestatus,andanyadditionalbenefitorcostfacedbytheirparents. Inthecaseofchildrenofimmigrants,thereareotherelementsthatwouldaffecttheirdevelopmentandbehaviortowardshealth.Regardlessoftheirplaceofbirth,childrenofimmigrantsareinfluencedbyadditionaluniquefactorssuchas:parents’ legal status,culturalassimilation,and languagebarriers. All theseaddedbarrierswouldusuallydissipatewiththepassageoftimeandaccesstoinformation.DuringthetransitiontowardstheimplementationoftheAffordableCareAct(ACA),familieswithcitizenkidsandimmigrantparentsweredefinedasmixed-statusfamilies.WithACA,healthcarecoverageandeligibilityare connected to families’ tax records. Although it varies by state, only citizens and lawfully presentimmigrantsareeligibletobuyinsuranceandgettax-creditsubsidiesinthehealthcaremarketplacecreatedunder this law. Meanwhile, dreamers (DACA and DAPH) and undocumented immigrants are excluded.Although parents can apply for their eligible kids without having to offer information about their ownimmigration status,when a family receives a subsidy or participates in themarket, they need to provideeithertheirSSNorproofthattheminoriseligible,andproofofincome(ITINinformationwouldnotapply).Severalorganizationshavebeenofferinginformationalservicestothesefamiliesbecauseofthecomplexityof the process and its timeline. Healthcare coverage is still a complicated process that confuses manypeople. Addressingtheeligibilityoftheirkidsbecomesmorecumbersomefor familieswhoalreadymovewithin informal labor markets. In particular, immigrants with limited information health-care policies, orimmigrantswhohaveatendencytostayawayfromfederalandstateservicesowingtofearofdeportation,arenotlikelytofollowtheprocessregardinganindividual’sproofofeligibilityviataxreturnformsorotherdocuments. In addition, recent immigrants have little knowledge about the mechanism behind localinstitutions, language, and forms. Even if they have resided in the country formore than 5 years, thesedifficultieswouldalsoapplytoparentswhoareundocumentedorpoor.*MónicaGarcía-PérezisanAssociateProfessoratDepartmentofEconomicsatSt.CloudStateUniversity

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

10

Overall,childrenaremorelikelytohavehealthinsurancewhentheirparentsarealsoinsured.Asnoted,forchildrenofimmigrantsthereareotherfactorslimitingtheiraccesstoresources.Ifakid’sparentisanon-citizenorundocumentedimmigrant,thechildismorelikelytobeuninsured,evenifthe(s)hewasbornintheUS.AmongchildrenofLatinofamilies,61%havenon-citizenparents,whilemorethan80%ofthesekidsareUSborn.Comparedtootherimmigrantgroups,Latinoshavehigherrelativeproportionsofnon-citizenparents with citizen kids. For this reason, Latinos are one of the most vulnerable populations regardingcoverageandaccesstohealthcare,evenaftertheimplementationoftheACA.Asof2014,morethan40%of the parents of Latino children lacked coverage and almost 60% did not have a usual place of care. Ingeneral,thistrendoflackingpreventivecareandaccesstohealthcarewouldaffectnotonlyimmigrantkidsbutalsocitizenchildrenwhoafterACAbecameeligibleforhealthcarecoverageandresources.Followingtheliteratureonevaluatinghealthtrendsandoutcomes,I lookatchildrenofLatinoimmigrants’BMI,coverageanduseofcare,andfrequencyofdoctorvisitstoanalyzerelevantpatternsinthispopulation.I separate children of Latino immigrants by their parental arrival cohort (0-9 years, 10-14 years, and 15+years)andincludechildrenofLatinonativeparentsasacomparisongroupinadditiontochildrenofnativeparents. ChildrenofLatino immigrantstendto lookmoresimilar, intermsofBMI levels,tokidsofnativeLatinosthantonativesoverall(Figure1,leftsidegraph).Thismaysoundobvious,giventhesimilaritiesthatexistbetweenthesegroupsintermsofcultureandfeatures.TherightsidegraphofFigure1showsthesamedistribution but it separates children of Latino immigrants the years their parents have resided in thecountry.ThelongertheirparentshavelivedintheUS,theclosertheirdistributionsaretotheircounterpartswithnativeLatinoparents-especiallyaroundBMIlevelsthatwouldidentifykidsasoverweight/obese.KidsofnewlyarrivedLatinoshaveonaveragelowerBMIscomparedtothosewhoseparentshaveresidedlongerinthecountry.

Figure1Kid’sBMIdistributionforchildrenofnative,nativeHispanicandLatinoimmigrantparents.

Manyresearchershavestudiedtheobservedconvergenceofimmigrantadults’healthoutcomestowardstotheir native counterparts, but we know little in this regard about children of immigrants. The simpledistributionIshowheregivesusaclueonwhetherthistrendalsohappensamongchildrenofimmigrants.In a unique way, it seems that kids’ outcomes would converge to their native counterparts. Yet, theconvergence towards ‘similar’ native groups needs to be compared in other terms such as access andutilizationofcare.

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

11

Figure 2 offers a comparative view of coverage and access to health among groups. Children of Latinoimmigrantsarealmost4timesmorelikelytolackhealthcarecoverage,andnothavingausualplaceofcareismore common among children of Latino immigrants. Nevertheless, these odds are reduced the longertheirparentshaveresidedinthecountry.Thistrendcouldbeexplainedbythelearningprocessthatfamiliesneed togo throughso they finallyhaveabetterunderstandingonhowtouseavailable services for theirkids.Thedifferenceamonggroups,however,isnotsignificantregardingtheirkids’perceivedhealthlevels.Without further analysis,we cannot tell if time is also a factor that changesparental perception towardshealthoutcomesversusactualhealthstatus.

Figure2Childrenofnative,nativeLatinos,andimmigrantLatinos:Coverage,UsualPlaceofCare,andHealthStatus.

Source:Author’scalculationusingIHIS(2008-2014).

Ifwelookdeeper,amongthekidsreportinghavingausualplaceofcare,someofthemwouldreportusingoutpatientand/orERservicesastheirregularcare(Figure3).TheproportionsaresignificantamongchildrenofrecentlyarrivedLatinoimmigrantscomparedtotherest. Theuseofthisservicesforpreventivecare isinefficient forboth thepatient and the system. The costof anERvisit is five to ten timeshigher thanatypicaldoctorvisit.However,thereasonsbehindtheuseofthisexpensivecareaspreventiveorusualcarearenotclearyet.Acombinationoflackoftypicalpreventivecareandparentalimmigrationstatuscouldbepartofwhatexplainsit.

Figure3Childrenofnative,nativeLatinos,andimmigrantLatinos:HavingasUsualPlaceofCareOutpatientinClinicandHospitalorERVisits.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

NoCoverage Nousualplaceofcare Good/ExcellentHealth

Nayve NayveLayno Imm.Lat.(0-9) Imm.Lat.(10-14) Imm.Lat.(15+)

0%2%4%6%8%10%12%

Nayve NayveLayno

Imm.Lat.(0-9)

Imm.Lat.(10-14)

Imm.Lat.(15+)

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

12

Despite the reported gaps in coverage andusual placeof care among groups,we could still assume thatfamilies,giventheprioritiestheymaygivetotheirkids’health,woulddecidetoregularlytaketheirkidstothedoctorforat leastanannualwellbeingcheck-upand/orurgentcare.So, ifourassumptionwereright,we should see themusing the system similarly to native groups. Figure 4 shows the frequency of doctorvisits across groups. At first sight, we can identify the large gap in doctor visits between children ofimmigrantsandchildrenofnatives.Despitethegeneralmedicalrecommendationthatchildrenhaveatleastone annual check-up, it is significantlymore common for children of immigrants to have not visited thedoctor inoneyear.Theaveragekidofnativesvisits thedoctor2to5timesayear.The literaturehasnotprovided an optimal number of doctor visits for kids, but it possible that natives may be overusing thesystembecausetheyhaveaccesstolesscostlyserviceswhileimmigrantsmaybeunderusingthembecauseoflegalandinformationalbarriersandcosts.

Figure4Childrenofnative,nativeLatinos,andimmigrantLatinos:DoctorVisits.

Source:AuthorscalculationusingIHIS(2008-2014).

Giventhecomplexityof thesystem,theAffordableCareActmaynotbeabletochangethetrendsof theLatino immigrantpopulationunless strongereffortsare inplace todirectlyaddress the informationalgapthat exist among adult immigrants, especially those who have recently arrived and those who areundocumented. It is unlikely, however, that this will be part of a health-policy discussion that would betakingplaceinthefollowingyears.ThefateoftheAffordableCareActisuncertain.Forthenextyears,theconversationwouldprobablyconcentrateonwhethertorepealitortochangeportionsoftheAct.Wecaneasilyexpect that thepreventivecareandeducationalemphasis in thecurrent lawwould losepriority,aswell as the relevance of addressing the issues of vulnerable populations such as children of Latinoimmigrants, resulting in probablyworseoutcomes than theonesdocumented in this article.Weneed tokeepanalyzingthesetrends,beinformedofcurrentchanges,andwaitandseewhatwillbecomeofACA.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

0visits 1visit 2-5visits 6-9visits 10+visits

Nayve NayveLayno Imm.Lat.(0-9) Imm.Lat.(10-14) Imm.Lat.(15+)

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

13

ReferencesAndreaC.Weathers,ScottNovak,,andEdwardNorton.Parentalnativityisanimportantfactorassociatedwithwhere

childrenusuallygoforhealthcare.MaternalChildHealthJournal,12:499–508,2008a.Antecol,H.,andK.Bedard (2006):“UnhealthyAssimilation:Whydo ImmigrantsConvergetoAmericanHealthStatus

levels?,”Demography,3(2),337–360.García-Pérez,M. (2013): “HealthCareUsageandHealthStatusof ImmigrantChildren:TheEffectsofNativity versus

Citizenship,”AmericanEconomicReview,103(3),412–417.Minnesota Population Center and State Health Access Data Assistance Center. Integrated health interview series:

Version3.0.,2015.URLhttp://www.ihis.us.NationalResearchCouncilInstituteofMedicine.FromGenerationtoGeneration:ThehealthandWell-BeingofChildren

inImmigrantFamilies.NationalAcademyPress,Washington,DC,1998.

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

14

AccesstofinancialServicesandtheWellbeingofMiddleAgedandOlderHispanicsintheUnitedStates

LuisaBlanco*

According to statistics from the 2015National Survey of Unbanked andUnderbankedHouseholds of theFederalDeposit InsuranceCorporationunbankedratesaremuchhigher forminorities (FDIC,2016).WhiletheunbankedrateamongWhitehouseholdswas3%,BlackandHispanichouseholdshaveunbankedratesof18%and16%,respectively(FDIC,2016).Theracialandethnicgapinbankaccountownershipismuchhigheramongthemiddleagedandolderpopulation.DatafromtheHealthandRetirementStudy(HRS)showsthatin 2012, householdswith aWhite financial respondent have anunbanked rate of 11%,while householdswithaBlackandHispanicfinancialrespondenthaveanunbankedrateof39%and50%,respectively(Aguilaetal.2016).5WhiletherehasbeenextensiveworkonthedeterminantsofaccesstofinancialservicesamongminoritiesthatfocusonHispanics(Barcellosetal.,2012;BohnandPearlman,2013;RhineandGreene,2006;amongothers), work that studies the access to financial services and the wellbeing of middle age and olderHispanicsintheUnitedStateshasbeenscant.StudyingmiddleagedandolderHispanicsisimportantsincetheyaremorelikelytobeforeignbornandhavedifferentlevelsofacculturationthantheyoungerHispanics,whichconsequentlyrelatestotheirparticipationintheformalfinancialsectorandtheirfinancialbehavior.Throughapilot study fundedby theNational InstituteofHealth/National InstituteofAging (NIH/NIA)weaim at filling this gap in the literature.6We conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses to develop abetterunderstandingofthedeterminantsofaccesstofinancialservicesandtheimpactofaccesstofinanceonthewellbeingofolderminorities,withafocusonBlacksandHispanics.WeuseddatafromtheHRStoempirically study what are the economic, cultural, and psychological barriers towards bank accountownership facing middle aged older Blacks and Hispanics (Aguila et al, 2016a). We also study therelationship between bank account ownership and health outcomes using the HRS data (Aguila et al.,2016b).WecollectedqualitativedatafromfocusgroupsusingaconveniencesampleinLosAngelesareatostudytheuseoffinancialservicesandsavingbehavioramongmiddleolderAfricanAmericansandHispanics(Blanco et al., 2015). The discussion here focuses on the results from these studies that are specific toHispanics.InAguilaetal. (2016a),weuseHRSdataduring theperiod2000-2012 tostudy thedeterminantsofbankaccount ownership and find that after controlling for socio-economic status (SES) and demographic

*LuisaBlancoisAssociateProfessoratPepperdineUniversitySchoolofPublicPolicyandthecurrentpresidentatASHE.5 In the HRS the financial respondent is assigned to the person in the householdwho ismost knowledgeable of the householdfinances.Households are consideredunbanked in theHRSas those individualswhoanswerno to thequestion “Doyou [or yourhusband/wife/partner]haveanycheckingorsavingsaccountsormoneymarketfunds?”HRSisrepresentativeforthepopulation51andolder.PleaserefertoAguilaetal.(2016a)formorediscussionontheHRSdata.6Thepilotstudy“FinancialexclusionandthewellbeingofminorityeldersintheUnitedStates"wasfundedfromtheUniversityofCalifornia, Los Angeles, Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research Center for Health Improvement of Minority Elderly(RCMAR/CHIME)underNIH/NIAGrantP30-AG021684,andNIH/NCATSUCLACTSIGrantNumberUL1TR001881.

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

15

characteristics,Hispanicsare less likely thanWhites toownabankaccountby18percentagepoints.7Wefind that the racial/ethnic gap is reduced by 50 percent for Hispanics whenwe add to ourmodel othervariables that account for important barriers/facilitators to bank account ownership (asset ownership,health,cognition,nativitystatus,tasteforprivacy,languageskills,andneighborhoodcharacteristics),whereHispanics are less likely toownabankaccount thanWhitesby9percentagepoints.We find that lackofEnglishproficiencyisthefactorcontributionthemosttothegap,wherelanguageaccountsfor6percentagepoints.WealsofindthatwealthisanimportantdeterminantofbankaccountownershipamongHispanics.WhileHispanicswithwealthaboveorequaltothemedianarelesslikelytoownabankaccountthanWhitesby5percentagepoints,HispanicswithwealthbelowthemedianarelesslikelytoownabankaccountthanWhitesby10percentagepoints(differenceacrossthesegroupsisstatisticallysignificant).Using data from the HRS during the period 2010-2012 to also explore the relationship of bank accountownership with health outcomes among middle aged and older individuals, we find that bank accountownershipisassociatedwithapositiveeffectonmentalhealthforHispanics(Aguilaetal.2016b).WealsofindthatforHispanicsinlesswell-offneighborhoodsownershipofabankaccountisassociatedwithgreatermental-healthbenefits.8We complement our quantitative data analyses using the HRS with a qualitative data analysis to betterunderstand the barriers thatmiddle aged and older Hispanics face for bank account ownership and theimpact of bank account ownership on their wellbeing. In Blanco et al. (2015) we collected data throughfocusgroupsconducted inLosAngelesarea.9 In this studyweanalyzedqualitativedata from42 lowandmiddle incomeHispanicsand find that lower incomeolderHispanicparticipantswere less likely toownabank account than middle income older Hispanics and African Americans. We find that behavioral andcultural factors are important explaining the lack of bank account ownership among lower income olderHispanic participants,where distrust in banks and perceptions about the requiredminimumbalance andbank fees kept them from opening an account. We also find that most study participants did not havesignificant savings and/or an emergency fund andwere unprepared to face unexpected health expensesthatarenotcoveredbyMedicareandMedi-Cal.ReferencesAguila,E.,Angrisani,M.,Blanco,L.,Leng,M.,2016a.Determinantsofracialandethnicdifferencesinbankaccount

ownershipamongolderadultsintheUnitedStates.Mimeo.Aguila,E.,Angrisani,M.,Blanco,L.2016b.OwnershipofabankaccountandhealthofolderHispanics,Economic

Letters,144,41-44.Barcellos,S.,Smith,J.,Yoong,J.,andCarvalho,L.2012.BarrierstoImmigrantUseofFinancialServices.ProductPage.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR923.html.

7Our sample includes individualswhoare51 to90yearsold.Weexclude91andolder individualswhohavehigher incidenceofimpairments, which is likely to result in higher likelihood of being unbanked. We use the race and ethnicity of the financialrespondentinthehousehold,wealsoexplorespousalpeereffects,whereweconsidertheraceandethnicityofthespouseaswell.PleasereferforAguilaetal.(2016a)foradiscussiononspousalspillovereffectsonbankaccountownership8ItisimportanttonotethatAguilaetal(2016a,2016b)arepreliminaryintheirattemptstouncoveracasuallink.RefertoAguilaetal(2016a,2016b)formorediscussiononthis.9 While we used a convenience sample in this study and cannot claim that our findings apply to the entire population, thisexploratoryworkprovidesrelevantinformationthatcanbeusedforthedesignofnationalsurveysandtoinformpolicymakersonpotentialissuesthatshouldbeexploredinmoredetailinordertoreducedunbankedratesamongminorities.

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

16

BlancoL,PonceM,GongoraA,DuruO.2015.AqualitativeanalysisoftheuseoffinancialservicesandsavingbehavioramongolderAfricanAmericansandLatinosintheLosAngelesarea.SageOpen.5,1.PMID:26064788.PMCID:PMC4459749.

Bohn,S.,andPearlman,S.2013.EthnicConcentrationandBankUseinImmigrantCommunities.SouthernEconomicJournal79(4):864–85.doi:10.4284/0038-4038-2010.245.

FederalDepositInsuranceCorporation.2016.2015FDICNationalSurveyofUnbankedandUnderbankedHouseholds.https://www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/2015/2015report.pdf

Rhine,S.W.,andGreene,W.H..2006.TheDeterminantsofBeingUnbankedforU.S.Immigrants.JournalofConsumerAffairs40(1):21–40.doi:10.1111/j.1745-6606.2006.00044.x.

HispanicEconomicOutlook–Spring2017ReportoftheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommittee

17

AbouttheHispanicEconomicOutlookCommitteeoftheAmericanSocietyofHispanicEconomists–Formedinearly2009,thisCommitteewasdesignedtomonitorandreportonahostofHispaniceconomicissues.Theviewsexpressedinthesereportsarethoseoftheauthors,anddonotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsoftheirrespectiveemployersorofASHE.Allerrorsinfactorinterpretationbelongtotheauthors.

2016-2017HispanicEconomicOutlookCommitteeMembers

LuisaBlancoPresidentofASHEandHEOCommitteeCo-ChairandAssociateProfessorSchoolofPublicPolicyPepperdineUniversity24255PacificCoastHwy.Malibu,CA90263(310)562-2364;fax(575)562-2252lblanco@pepperdine.eduAreasofspecialty:EconomicDevelopment;InternationalEconomics,LatinAmericaAlbertoDávilaProfessorofEconomicsDepartmentofEconomicsandFinanceTheUniversityofTexasRioGrandeValleyEdinburg,TX78539(956)665-3315;fax(956)665-5020Alberto.Davila@utrgv.eduAreasofspecialty:HispanicEntrepreneurship;HispanicLaborMarketsMarkHugoLópezDirectorPewResearchCenterHispanicTrendsProject1615LStreetNW,Suite700Washington,DC20036(202)419-3617mlopez@pewresearch.orgAreasofspecialty:CivicEngagement;HispanicYouth;EconomicsofEducation

MarieT.MoraProfessorofEconomicsDepartmentofEconomicsandFinanceTheUniversityofTexasRioGrandeValleyEdinburg,TX78539(956)665-7913;fax(956)665-5020Marie.Mora@utrgv.eduAreasofspecialty:Hispaniclabormarkets;HispanicsocialmobilityoutcomesIsabelRuizHEOCommitteeCo-ChairandOfficialFellowinEconomicsHarrisManchesterCollegeUniversityofOxfordOxford,OX11HYUnitedKingdom+44(0)1865271026Isabel.ruiz@economics.ox.ac.ukAreasofspecialty:InternationalEconomics/Development;CapitalFlows;MigrationIssues;LatinAmerica

ThisreportwasreleasedJanuary7,2017.FormoreinformationaboutASHE,pleasevisitourwebsiteatwww.asheweb.netorcontactourcurrentPresident:LuisaBlancoatlblanco@pepperdine.edu.